Printing system

ABSTRACT

An imaging system is provided with an authentication data storage that stores a plurality of pieces of authentication data in relationship to user IDs respectively representing owners of the plurality of communication devices. Further included is a reading system that reads out one of the plurality of pieces of the authentication data corresponding to a user ID if the user ID is transmitted from the external device in relationship to the image data, and a searching system searches for a communication device with which a connection authentication is established using the authentication data read out by the reading system within a predetermined communication area with respect to the imaging system. An imaging system forms an image represented by the image data transmitted in relationship to the user ID from the external device when the communication device is detected by the searching system.

This is a Division of application Ser. No. 10/290,178 filed on Nov. 8,2002. The disclosure of the prior application is herby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a printing system including a printerand a plurality of terminal devices, which are interconnected through anetwork system.

Conventionally, a printing system including an image forming device suchas a printer, and at least one external device interconnected through anetwork system has been known. Typically, the image forming device islocated remote from the external device. In such a system, it may happenthat a confidential document is to be printed, i.e., printing data ofthe confidential document may be transmitted to the image forming devicethrough the network so that the confidential document is printed by theimage forming device. In such a case, if the image forming device printsout the confidential document as soon as it receives the printing datathrough the network, there is a possibility that the printed outdocument may be viewed by a person who is not an intended recipient ofthe document.

To solve the above problem, the assignee has suggested, in JapanesePatent Provisional Publication P2001-217948, a printing system includinga personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC) and a printerinterconnected through a network. In this system, printing data and apassword are transmitted to the printer, which are stored in a storageof the printer. Thereafter, when the password is transmitted from a cellphone to the printer, the printer starts printing of the stored printingdata corresponding to the password.

According to the above configuration, even through the printer is remotefrom the PC and the printing data is transmitted to the printer, theprinter does not starts printing until it receives the passwordcorresponding to the printing data. Therefore, a confidential documentswill not be printed out and therefore viewed by an unintended recipient.

However, according to the above system, it is necessary to certify therecipient, and for this purpose, it typically requires a password to beinput through the cell phone, which is troublesome.

Another system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional ApplicationP2000-177212. According to this system, a printer receives printing dataand an ID number of an intended recipient of the printout, and storesthe same. The recipient always brings an ID card with him/her. The IDcard has a signal transmitting/receiving function. The printer isconfigured to transmits an ID requiring signal to ID cards within apredetermined communication area. When a holder of the ID card comesinside the predetermined communication area, the ID card receives the IDrequiring signal. Then, the ID card transmits the ID number to theprinter in response to the ID requiring signal. Upon receipt of the IDumber from the ID card, the printer checks whether it currently storesprinting data corresponding to the received ID number, and if any,starts printing the data.

According to the above configuration, it becomes possible that a printjob of the printing data is initiated when the recipient of the printingdata is sufficiently close to the printer. Further, it is unnecessaryfor the recipient to manually input the password in response to therequest from the printer.

According to this system, however, a recipient is required to alwaysbring the dedicated ID card with him/her. It may be inconvenient since adedicated ID card should be designed for the printing system. Further,every user of the printing system must bring the ID card only for thepurpose of initiating a print job.

There is also known a printing system, which includes a plurality of PCsand a plurality of image forming devices such as a printerinterconnected with each other through a network system.

In such a system, when a print job is executed, a user may designate animage forming device to be used using the PC. For example, when a userintends to print printing data using a printer, firstly, he/she controlsthe PC to display a list of printers available on the network system,and select one of them to be used. Then, the user starts a printing job,and the printing data is transmitted to the selected (designated)printer.

In the conventional system, however, a printer is selected based on thenames of the imaging devices, IP addresses and the like. Therefore, itis necessary that the user should know a relationship between each imageforming device as listed and location thereof in order to obtain aprintout from an image forming device at a desired location.

In order to solve this problem, according to a network printer systemdisclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication P2001-154822,operator ID for identifying an operator is used to designate a printerto be used.

Specifically, according to the system in this publication, the printerobtains an operator ID from a user in a setting mode, and broadcast theobtained operator ID together with the ID data (e.g., MAC address or thelike) within the network. A work station (or PC) obtains, in a settingmode, the operator ID, and compares the operator ID included in thebroadcast signal and operational ID with the broadcast data. If theinput operator ID and the broadcast ID coincide with each other, theprinter from which the operator ID is broadcast is selected as theprinter to be used.

According to the system as above, without a troublesome settingoperation, an appropriate printer can be selected and control the sameto executed a print job.

However, according to the above-described system, if the user desires toswitch a plurality of image forming devices, setting operations shouldbe performed when the printers are switched, which is troublesome.

Further, when a plurality of users use the same printer in a sharedmanner, the confidentiality of the printout as aforementioned arisesagain. That is, when a user selects one imaging device, and control thesame to print out a confidential document, if the image forming deviceoutputs the document upon receipt of the printing data, the output maybe viewed by an unintended recipient.

Still further, in a system including a plurality of image formingdevices and a plurality of terminals interconnected with each other, itsometimes happens that a user requiring a print job (i.e., a demander)and a recipient of the output of the print job are different. If thedemander and the recipient are the same, the demander selects, forexample, a printer which is close to the demander. However, if they aredifferent, it is necessary for the demander to know a location of therecipient. It is especially important when the recipient does not stayat the same position.

According to the JP provisional publication P2001-154822, which ismentioned before, the demander designates a printer to be used.Specifically, the printer requires the demander to input an informationkey, which is broadcast in the network together with the identificationdata (e.g., MAC address) thereof. A workstation requires the demander toinput the information key, and compares the input information key withthe broadcast information key. If the information keys are judged to bethe same, the printer which broadcast the information key as the targetprinter, to which the print data is transmitted.

Thus, by modifying the system such that the demander inputs theinformation key through a PC and the recipient inputs the informationkey through a printer, it becomes possible to configure a system inwhich the printer closed to the recipient is controlled to executed theprint job directed to the recipient.

According to such a system, however, it is necessary for the recipientto input the information key through the printer, which is relativelytroublesome. Further, the information key input by the recipient must beidentical to that input by the demander through the PC. Therefore, ifthe demander and the recipient are different, the information key shouldbe notified from the demander to the recipient, which may not get alongin a practical use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is advantageous in that the above-describeddeficiencies of conventional network systems can be resolved. That is,according to the present invention, improved network printing system isprovided in which a confidential document is printed only when arecipient is close to a printer which outputs the confidential documentwithout requiring a troublesome procedure such as inputting of passwordsby the recipient. Alternatively or optionally, according to theinvention, when a plurality of image forming devices are connected witha network system, an appropriate one is selected without requiringtroublesome input operations by the user. Alternatively, in a printingsystem including a plurality of image forming devices, a print job isperformed by a printer which is located close to a recipient of theoutput of the print job without requiring troublesome input operationsby the recipient.

According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided an imagingsystem that forms an image represented by image data transmitted from anexternal device on a recording sheet. The imaging system is providedwith an authentication data storage that stores a plurality of pieces ofauthentication data to be used for performing connection authenticationwith each of a plurality of communication devices, on a link layer, theplurality of pieces of authentication data being stored in relationshipto user IDs respectively representing owners of the plurality ofcommunication devices. Further included is a reading system that readsout one of the plurality of pieces of the authentication data from theauthentication data storage corresponding to a user ID if the user ID istransmitted from the external device. It should be noted that the userID is related to the image data. The imaging system further includes asearching system that searches for a communication device with which aconnection authentication is established using the one of the pluralityof pieces of the authentication data read out by the reading systemwithin a predetermined communication area with respect to the imagingsystem. The imaging system further includes an image forming system thatforms an image represented by the image data transmitted in relationshipto the user ID from the external device when the communication devicewith which the connection authentication is established is detected bythe searching system.

According to the above configuration, the following advantages areachieved.

(1) It becomes unnecessary to input a password or the like forauthentication of the user before the image formation is started.

(2) It is possible to use a general use communication device since whena communication device starts communicating with another device, theconnection authentication is performed using the authenticationinformation intrinsic to respective communication devices. For example,in the publication P2000-177212, the ID card communicating with theprinter is required to store the ID number of the use of the ID card,and to function to transmitting the ID number in response to the requestsignal from the printer.

(3) If the image forming device is configured such that the imageformation is executed immediately when the communication device withwhich the connection authentication is established is detected, when theuser goes to the image forming device, the image formation isautomatically started.

Optionally, the imaging system described above may include a requestingsystem that requests a user of the communication device, with which theconnection authentication is established, for a reply indicatingallowance of starting the image formation with the image forming systemvia the communication device, and a reply receiving system that receivesthe reply from the communication device. In this case, the image formingsystem starts forming the image corresponding to the communicationdevice when the reply receiving system receives the reply from thecommunication device.

With this configuration, since it is confirmed whether the imageformation is to be started or not, unintentional starting of the imageformation can be prevented.

Further optionally, the imaging system may include a judging system thatjudges whether a predetermined command is transmitted from the externaldevice in relationship to the image data, the predetermined commandindicating that an authentication is required when the image data isprinted, and a controller that inhibits operation of the reading system,the searching system and the image forming system when the predeterminedcommand is not transmitted in relationship to the image data, thecontroller controlling the image forming system to immediately startforming an image represented by the image data on the recording sheet ifthe predetermined command is not transmitted in relationship to theimage data.

In a certain case, the imaging system may be configured to communicatewith the communication devices in accordance with the Bluetoothcommunication method, and one of a unit key and a combination key may beused as the authentication data.

Still optionally, the imaging system may be configured to communicatewith the communication devices in accordance with the Bluetoothcommunication method, and a BD address may be used as the authenticationdata.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a datamanagement system capable of communicating with a plurality of imagingdevices through a network, the data management system managing imagedata stored in a database, the image data stored in the database beingprocessed by the plurality of imaging devices. The data managementsystem may include a data registration system that receives, from anexternal device connected to the network, image data and recipientinformation representing a recipient who receives the image representedby the image data, the data registration system registering the imagedata with the database in relationship to the recipient information, aplurality of user ID obtaining systems that obtains a plurality of userIDs from a plurality of wireless external devices assigned with the userIDs via wireless communication, and a data transmitting system thatdetermines a target image forming device to be used for forming an imagerepresented by the image data based on the IDs obtained by the pluralityof user ID obtaining systems and the recipient information of the imagedata, the data transmitting system transmitting the image data to thetarget imaging device.

With this configuration, if the user has a wireless communication deviceassigned with the user ID, based on the detection results of the userID, a location of the user can be judged, and based on this judgment,the imaging device to be used can be selected within the network.Accordingly, the user need not select the imaging device, and theappropriate imaging device is automatically selected, and the image datais processed thereby.

An exemplary method of having the data transmitting system to determinedthe imaging device to which the image data is transmitted, using thenetwork addresses assigned to respective devices in the network may beconvenient.

A plurality of communication devices, each including a wirelesscommunication device and a user ID obtaining system, for obtaining theuser ID are arranged within the network. Each communication device isconfigured to transmit the network address assigned thereto as well asthe user ID to the data transmitting system. Further, the datatransmitting system is configured to judge the location of thecommunicating devices, from which the user ID is obtained, based on thenetwork address thereof, thereby the image forming device to which theimage data is transmitted is determined. With such a configuration, forexample, in a network including a plurality of sub networks, an imageforming device within the same sub network where the communicationdevice from which the user ID is obtained is connected can be used forprinting the image.

Optionally, the user ID obtaining systems may be provided in theplurality of imaging devices, respectively, and the data transmittingsystem may determine the target imaging device as the imaging devicehaving the user ID obtaining system that has obtained the user IDcorresponding to the recipient ID of the image data.

Further, each of the imaging devices may include an image data obtainingsystem that transmits a request for sending image data to the datatransmitting system. In this case, when a request for image formation isinput by a user, the image data obtaining system transmits a user ID ofa wireless communication device obtained by the user ID obtaining systemand a request for transmitting image data which is stored in thedatabase in relationship to the user ID. The image data obtaining systemthen obtains image data as a reply to the request for transmitting imagedata. The data transmitting system may retrieve the image data stored inthe database in relationship to the user information corresponding tothe user ID transmitted, together with the request for image data, fromthe image data obtaining system through the network, the datatransmitting system transmitting the retrieved image data to the imagedata obtaining system from which the request for the image data wasreceived.

Still optionally, the image data obtaining system is capable ofobtaining an image formation request, which was transmitted from thewireless communication device in accordance with a predeterminedoperation by a user, through the wireless communication system.

According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided adatabase server capable of communicating with a plurality of imagingdevices through a network, the database server including a database forstoring image data, the image data stored in the database beingprocessed by the plurality of imaging devices. The database server mayinclude a data registration system that receives, from an externaldevice connected to the network, image data and recipient informationrepresenting a recipient who receives the image represented by the imagedata, the data registration system registering the image data with thedatabase in relationship to the recipient information, and a datatransmitting system that retrieves the image data stored in the databasein relationship to the user information corresponding to the user IDtransmitted, together with the request for image data, from the imagedata obtaining system through the network, the data transmitting systemtransmitting the retrieved image data to the image data obtaining systemfrom which the request for the image data was received.

When the data transmitting system receives the request for sending alist of the image data registered with the database from the imagingdevice through the network, the data transmitting system transmits alist of image data stored in the database in relationship to the userinformation corresponding to the user ID which is transmitted togetherwith the request for the list of the image data to the imaging devicefrom which the request for the list was received.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided animaging device connected to a database storing a plurality of pieces ofimage data in relationship to recipient information indicatingrecipients to receive images represented by the plurality of pieces ofimage data, respectively, the imaging device being capable ofcommunicating with the data base. The imaging device is provided with auser ID obtaining system that obtains user IDs of external wirelesscommunication devices assigned with user IDs, respectively, through abuilt-in wireless communication unit, an image data retrieving systemthat retrieves image data that is stored in relationship to the user IDwhich is obtained by the user ID obtaining system from the database, andan image forming system that forms an image represented by the imagedata retrieved by the image data retrieving system.

When an image formation request is input to the image data retrievingsystem from a user, the image data retrieving system retrieves the imagedata which is stored in the database in relationship to the recipientinformation corresponding to the user ID which is obtained by the userID obtaining system.

Optionally, the image data retrieving system is capable of obtaining theimage formation request, which is transmitted from the external wirelesscommunication device by the operation of the user, through the built-inwireless communication system.

The imaging device may further include a notification system. If theimage data is stored, in the database, in relationship to userinformation corresponding to the user ID obtained by the user IDobtaining system, the notification system transmits notificationindicating registration of the image data to the user.

Optionally, the image data retrieving system may be configured such thata list of the image data stored in relationship to the recipientinformation corresponding to the user ID from the database based on theuser ID obtained by the user ID obtaining system, and the notificationsystem may be configured such that the list of the image data obtainedby the image data retrieving system is displayed so as to be viewed bythe user.

The imaging device may further include a selection information obtainingsystem that obtains information indicating selection of the user on thelist of the image data, the image data retrieving system selectivelyretrieving the image data selected by the user based on the selectioninformation obtained by the selection information obtaining system whenthe image formation request is received from the user.

According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided anuser ID obtaining device for a data management system capable ofcommunicating with a plurality of imaging devices through a network. Thedata management system manages image data stored in a database, and theimage data stored in the database is processed by the plurality ofimaging devices. Further, the data management system includes a dataregistration system that receives, from an external device connected tothe network, image data and recipient information representing arecipient who receives the image represented by the image data, the dataregistration system registering the image data with the database inrelationship to the recipient information.

The user ID obtaining systems may include a wireless communicationdevice through which the user ID obtaining system obtains a plurality ofuser IDs from a plurality of wireless external devices assigned with theuser IDs, respectively.

The data management system may include a data transmitting system thatdetermines a target imaging device to be used for forming an imagerepresented by the image data based on the IDs obtained by the user IDobtaining system and the recipient information of the image data, thedata transmitting system transmitting the image data to the targetimaging device.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a datamanagement system including a plurality of imaging devices that formimages represented by image data, a data management device that iscapable of communicating with the plurality of imaging devices, and acommunicating device that is capable of communicating with the datamanagement device and the imaging devices.

The communicating device may include a searching system that searchesfor the imaging device that can communicate with the communicatingdevice, and an ID information transmitting system which transmits, whenthe searching system detects an imaging device, first identificationinformation for identifying the image forming device, together withsecond identification information for identifying the communicatingdevice, to the data management device. Further, the data managementdevice may include a readout system that readouts recipient informationincorporated in the image data representing a recipient of the imagerepresented by the image data from the image data to be processed by oneof the plurality of image forming devices, an ID information receivingsystem that receives the first identification information and the secondidentification information from the ID information transmitting system,and a data transmitting system that transmits the image data from whichthe recipient information corresponding to the second identificationinformation received by the ID information receiving system to the imageforming device which is identified based on the first identificationinformation received by the ID information receiving system.

Optionally, the data transmitting system may transmit the image data toa predetermined imaging device if the readout system does not readoutthe recipient information form the image data.

When the readout system readouts the recipient information incorporatedin the image data, the data management device includes a receiptnotification system that notifies a notification of receipt to thecommunication device corresponding to the recipient information. Thesearching system of the communication device may start searching for theimaging device if the communication device receives the receipt notice.

When the readout system readouts the recipient information incorporatedin the image data, the data management device includes a receipt noticetransmission system that transmits a receipt notice to the communicationdevice corresponding to the recipient information, and when thecommunication device receives the receipt notice, the communicationdevice executes a notification operation for notifying receipt of thereceipt notice to the user of the communication device.

In a particular case, the searching system of the communication deviceobtains data intrinsic to an imaging device stored in the imaging devicewhich can communicate with the communication device, and the IDinformation transmitting system transmits the intrinsic informationobtained by the searching system as the first identification informationto the data management device.

Still optionally, the searching system searches for the imaging devicein accordance with a communication method in which intrinsic informationis exchanged between communicating devices, and the ID informationtransmitting system transmits the intrinsic information exchanged by thesearching system as the first identification information to the datamanagement device.

Further, the searching system searches for the imaging device within anarea in which the searching system can communicate with an imagingdevice through the wireless LAN, and if a plurality of imaging devicesare simultaneously located within the area, the are is reduced untilonly one imaging device is located in the area.

According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a datamanagement device employed in a data management system which includes aplurality of imaging devices that form images represented by image data.The data management device is capable of communicating with theplurality of imaging devices, and the data management system furtherincludes a communicating device that is capable of communicating withthe data management device and the imaging devices. In this case, thedata management device may be provided with a readout system thatreadouts recipient information incorporated in the image datarepresenting a recipient of the image represented by the image data fromthe image data to be processed by one of the plurality of imagingdevices, an ID information receiving system that receives firstidentification information for identifying the imaging device and secondidentification information for identifying the communicating device fromthe communication device, and a data transmitting system that transmitsthe image data from which the recipient information corresponding to thesecond identification information received by the ID informationreceiving system to the imaging device which is identified based on thefirst identification information received by the ID informationreceiving system.

Optionally, the data transmitting system may transmit the image data toa predetermined imaging device if the readout system does not readoutthe recipient information form the image data.

Still optionally, when the readout system readouts the recipientinformation incorporated in the image data, the data management deviceincludes a receipt notification system that notifies a notification ofreceipt to the communication device corresponding to the recipientinformation. Further, the searching system of the communication devicemay be configured to start searching for the imaging device if thecommunication device receives the receipt notice.

In another case, when the readout system readouts the recipientinformation incorporated in the image data, the data management deviceincludes a receipt notice transmission system that transmits a receiptnotice to the communication device corresponding to the recipientinformation, and when the communication device receives the receiptnotice, the communication device executes a notification operation fornotifying receipt of the receipt notice to the user of the communicationdevice.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided acommunication device employed in a data management system including aplurality of imaging devices that form images represented by image dataand a data management device that is capable of communicating with theplurality of imaging devices, the communicating device being capable ofcommunicating with the data management device and the imaging devices.The communicating device may be provided with a searching system thatsearches for the imaging device that can communicate with thecommunicating device, and an ID information transmitting system whichtransmits, when the searching system detects an imaging device, firstidentification information for identifying the imaging device, togetherwith second identification information for identifying the communicatingdevice, to the data management device.

In a certain case, when the readout system readouts the recipientinformation incorporated in the image data, the data management deviceincludes a receipt notice transmission system that transmits a receiptnotice to the communication device corresponding to the recipientinformation, and when the communication device receives the receiptnotice, the communication device may execute a notification operationfor notifying receipt of the receipt notice to the user of thecommunication device.

Still optionally, the searching system of the communication device mayobtain data intrinsic to an imaging device stored in the imaging devicewhich can communicate with the communication device, and the IDinformation transmitting system transmits the intrinsic informationobtained by the searching system as the first identification informationto the data management device.

Alternatively, the searching system may search for the imaging device inaccordance with a communication method in which intrinsic information isexchanged between communicating devices, and the ID informationtransmitting system transmits the intrinsic information exchanged by thesearching system as the first identification information to the datamanagement device.

Further optionally, the searching system may search for the imagingdevice within an area in which the searching system can communicate withan imaging device through the wireless LAN, and if a plurality ofimaging devices are simultaneously located within the area, the area isreduced until only one imaging is located in the area.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a printing systemaccording to a first embodiment;

FIG. 1A is a print setting dialogue including a user ID input section;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a BT COMMUNICATION DEVICEREGISTRATION PROCEDURE;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a PRINT PROCEDURE according to thefirst embodiment;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary usage of the printing system where animage on a PC is printed by a printer;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a PRINT PROCEDURE according to asecond embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a PRINT START CONFIRMATION PROCEDURE;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a data management system according to athird embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a DATA TRANSMISSION/REGISTRATIONPROCEDURE executed by a workstation;

FIG. 9A is a flowchart illustrating a DATA REGISTRATION PROCEDUREexecuted by a server;

FIG. 9B shows a data structure of a database;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a THE NUMBER OF REGISTRED DATACALCULATING PROCEDURE performed by a printer;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a DISPLAY PROCEDURE executed by awireless transmitter/receiver;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a REQUEST SIGNAL TRANSMITTINGPROCEDURE executed by the wireless transmitter/receiver;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a RECEPTION/TRANSMISSION PROCEDUREexecuted by a printer;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a DATA TRANSMISSION PROCEDUREexecuted by the server;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a REPLYING PROCEDURE executed by theprinter;

FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a data managementsystem according to a fourth embodiment;

FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a document serveraccording to a fourth embodiment;

FIG. 18 is a chart illustrating a printer database;

FIG. 19 is a chart illustrating a recipient database;

FIG. 20 is a chart illustrating a communication method database;

FIG. 21 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a cell phoneaccording to the fourth embodiment;

FIG. 22 is a block diagram showing a printer according to the fourthembodiment;

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating a DATA TRANSMISSION PROCEDUREaccording to the fourth embodiment;

FIG. 24 is a flowchart illustrating a RECIPIENT INFORMATION CONFIRMATIONPROCEDURE;

FIG. 25 is a flowchart illustrating a COMMUNICATION METHOD SELECTINGPROCEDURE; and

FIG. 26 is a flowchart illustrating a SEARCHING PROCEDURE.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, embodiments of the invention will be described withreference to the accompanying drawings.

First Embodiment

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a printing system1000 according to a first embodiment of the invention.

The printing system 1000 includes a printer 10, a plurality of personalcomputers (PCs) 4, and a cell phone 6. The printer 10 and the pluralityof PCs 4 are interconnected through a LAN (Local Area Network) 2.

The printer 10 includes:

an engine 12 that operates to form an image on a recording sheet;

an operation unit 14 having manually operable keys, through which a usercan input various commands, and a display device for displaying variousinformation;

a LAN interface 16 that performs data exchange through the LAN;

a BT (Bluetooth interface) 18 that transmits/receives data in accordancewith a Bluetooth communication method; and

a main controller 20 that controls the above-described components of theprinter 10.

The main controller 20 includes a ROM 22 that stores various programsfor operations of the printer 10, a CPU 30 that executes the programsstored in the ROM 22, a RAM 24 that temporarily stores operation resultsof the CPU 30 and the like, an NVRAM (Non-Volatile RAM) 26, and an I/Oport 28 that interfaces input/output of data.

In each PC 4, a print job for printing text and images can be createdand a request for printing the same can be transmitted to the printer10. It should be noted that when a user of a PC 4 executes a printingoption, it is possible to set a confidential printing option, which willbe described in detail later.

FIG. 1A is an example of a printing option setting dialogue displayed ona display of a PC 4. As shown in FIG. 1A, a check box for theconfidential printing and a user ID input box in which a user ID (e.g.,a name or company member number etc.) is to be input are included in theprinting option setting dialogue. When the check box is checked, it isrequired that the user ID is input.

If the printing option setting is done with the check box of theconfidential printing having been checked and the user ID having beeninput, when printing data (data representative of an image to be formedon the recording sheet) is transmitted to the printer 10, a commandinstructing the confidential printing and the user ID as input are alsotransmitted to the printer 10. If a user ID is intrinsic to eachcomputer, e.g., each PC is used only by a predetermined person and userID is preliminary input, control may be modified such that input of theuser ID in the printing option dialogue may be omitted, and thepreliminarily input user ID may be transmitted to the printer 10.

The BT interface 18 communicates with another Bluetooth communicationdevices. In particular, according to the first embodiment, the cellphone 6 is configured as a Bluetooth communication device.

The Bluetooth communication method will be briefly describedhereinafter.

The Bluetooth communication is a wireless communication method using a2.4 GHz band. A communication area of the Bluetooth communication isapproximately 10 through 100 m, depending on a transmission power class.In the first embodiment, each of the BT interface 18 and the cell phone6 is of class 3, and the BT interface 18 is capable of communicatingwith the cell phone 6 within a circle whose radius is approximately 10m. This area in which the BT interface 18 communicates with the cellphone 6 will be referred to as a Piconet area.

According to the Bluetooth method, in a link layer when a communicationis initiated, a connection authentication is executed using a secret keycalled as a Link key.

Specifically, in the BT (Bluetooth) communication devices, for eachcommunicable BT communication device, a BD address thereof and a Linkkey to be used for communication are stored pairwise.

The Link key used between the two BT devices includes a unit key and acombination key, each of which is a semi-fixed Link key, and aninitializing key which is a temporary key. The unit key and thecombination key are functionally the same. The former is created basedon information of a single BT communication device, while the latter iscreated based on a combination of the two BT communication devices.

If the semi-fixed Link key (i.e., the unit key or the combination key)with respect to the other BT device has been set, the connectionauthentication is performed using the Link key. If the semi-fixed Linkkey has not been set, the initializing key which is a tentative Link keyis generated.

Generation of the initializing key will be described.

When the two BT communication devices (which will be referred to asdevice A and device B) for which the initializing key is generated,firstly, device B which receives connection request generates a randomnumber and send the same to device A, which has transmitted a connectionrequest. At this stage, the BD addresses of the two BT devices have beenexchanged therebetween, and become known parameters therebetween.

Device A operates for generating the initializing key in accordance withthe BD address of device A, PIN code of device A, and the random numbergenerated by device B. Similarly, device B generates an initializing keyin accordance with the BD address of device A, a PIN code of device Band the random number generated by device B. The PIN code is a numericalcode preliminary assigned to each communication device. According to thefirst embodiment, the same PIN code is assigned to the printer 10 andthe cell phone 6 which is the BT communication device to communicatewith BT.

In each BT communication device, the Link key corresponding to the otherBT communication device is stored. The connection authentication betweentwo BT communication devices is executed by examining whether the Linkkeys stored in the BT communication devices coincide with each other.

The method for judging whether the two Link keys coincide with eachother will be described. In the following explanation, the two BTcommunication devices will be referred to as device C and device D.

Firstly, device D, which receives the authentication request, transmitsa random number generated therein to device C which has requestedtheauthentication. It should be noted that the BD addresses of thedevices C and D have been exchanged at the initial stage of thecommunication, and have been recognized by both devices C and D.

Device C performs an operation for the connection authentication usingthe BD address of device C, the Link key set for device D and the randomnumber generated by device D, and generates a parameter that will bereferred to as a parameter SRES. Similarly, device D performs anoperation for the connection authentication using the BD address ofdevice C, the Link key set for device C and the random number generatedby device D, and obtains a parameter SRES. Device C, then transmits theparameter SRES to device D. Device D compares the parameter SREScalculated therein and the parameter SRES received from device C, andjudges whether they coincide with each other.

If device D judges that the two parameters SRES coincide, the connectionauthentication is established. As described above, in the connectionauthentication, for the sake of security, whether the Link keys coincidewith each other is judged without transmitting the Link keystherebetween.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a BT COMMUNICATION DEVICEREGISTRATION PROCEDURE. The procedure is initiated when an inputoperation for registering a BT communication device with the printer 10is executed at the operation unit 14.

When the BT COMMUNICATION DEVICE REGISTRATION PROCEDURE is initiated, BTcommunication devices located within the Piconet area is searched usingthe BT interface 18 (S100). In S110, a list of BD addresses of the BTdevices, which are found to be in the Piconet area, is displayed on thedisplay device of the operation unit 14. It should be noted that theinformation indicated in the list may be information with which the BTcommunication devices are distinguished from each other, and names ofthe BT devices, if assigned, may be displayed instead of the BDaddressed thereof.

In S120, it is judged whether one of the BT communication devicesindicated in the list has been selected through the operation unit 14.If a BT communication device is selected, control proceeds to S114. InS114, the authentication using the aforementioned initializing key isperformed, and in S116, it is judged whether the authentication isestablished.

If the authentication using the initializing key is not established(S116: NO), control proceeds to S118, where an message indicating thatthe authentication has been failed is displayed on the display device ofthe operation unit 14, and the procedure is terminated. If theauthentication is established (S116: YES), control proceeds to S120,where a unit key, which is a semi-fixed Link key, is obtained from theBT communication device (alternatively, a combination key with the BTcommunication device is generated). In S130, the semi-fixed Link key andthe user ID input through the BT device are stored in an ID storing areaof the NVRAM 26 in a related manner, and the procedure is terminated.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a PRINT PROCEDURE according to thefirst embodiment. The procedure is executed by the CPU 30 of the printer10. The procedure is initiated when the printing data is received by theprinter 10 through the LAN interface 16.

When the PRINT PROCEDURE is initiated, in S200, the received printingdata is developed so as to be ready for printing operation. In S210, itis judged whether the confidential print instruction is receivedtogether with the printing data.

If the confidential print instruction is not received (S210: NO),control proceeds to S260, and the developed printing data is transmittedto the engine 12 and the printing operation is performed. Then, thePRINT PROCEDURE is terminated. In the following description, printing ofan image represented by the printing data will be simply referred to asprinting of the printing data.

If it is judged that the confidential printing instruction is received(S210: YES), control proceeds to S220. In S220, a semi-fixed Link keycorresponding to the user ID which has been received together with theconfidential printing instruction is retrieved from the ID storage areaof the NVRAM 26.

In S230, BT communication devices located within the Piconet area aresearched using the BT interface 18. Then, in S240, for all the BTcommunication devices found in S230, the connection authentication isperformed using the semi-fixed Link keys retrieved in S220. Thus, theprinter 10 functions as device C which was referred to in the abovedescription.

In S250, it is judged whether a BT communication device, with which theconnection authentication has been established, exists. If there are noBT devices with which the connection authentication has been established(S250: NO), control returns to S230.

If there is a BT device with which the connection authentication hasbeen established (S250: YES), control proceeds to S260, where the engine12 is controlled to start printing of the printing data, and then, thePRINTING PROCEDURE is terminated.

Next, an exemplary usage of the printing system will be described withreference to FIG. 4. In this example, an image stored in the PC 4 isprinted with the printer 10, the PC 4 and the printer 10 being connectedthrough the LAN 2.

Initially, a user of the PC 4 registers a cell phone 6 with the printer10 as a BT communication device. This registration may be done asfollows.

The user goes to the printer 10 with holding the cell phone 6 which ispowered ON, and initiates an input operation through the operation unit14 to start the registration of the BT communication devices with theprinter 10. With the operation, on the display device of the operationunit 14, the BD addresses of the BT communication devices located in thePiconet area are displayed as a list. Then, the user selects the BDaddress of the cell phone 6, and further inputs his/her user ID. Withthis operation, the registration of the cell phone 6 is completed.

When the image on the PC 4 is printed, the user sets whether theconfidential printing is performed using the printing option settingdialogue.

If it is unnecessary to set the confidential printing, the check box forthe confidential printing is not checked. Then, when the printing isinitiated, the printer 10 starts printing of the printing data uponreceipt of the same from the PC 4.

If the user intends to perform the confidential printing, the check boxin the printing option dialogue is checked, and the user ID is input.Then, when the print command is sent to the printer 10, the confidentialprinting instruction and the user ID are transmitted to the printer 10together with the printing data.

The printer 10 develops the printing data so as to be ready for printingwhen the printing data is received, and searches for, within the Piconetarea, the BT communication device with which the connectionauthentication will be established, using the semi-fixed Link keycorresponding to the received user ID (i.e., the printer 10 searches forthe cell phone 6 registered by the user of the PC 4).

Thereafter, when the user of the PC 4 enters the Piconet area with thecell phone 6, which is powered ON, the printer detects the cell phone 6,and a printing job is initiated.

With the printer 10 according to the first embodiment, the followingadvantages are realized.

(a) Printing of the printing data is initiated when the recipient of theprintout goes to the printer 10 (i.e., enters the Piconet area), and inthis case, an additional operation for initiating the print job isunnecessary.

(b) Since the cell phone 6 is used as the general-use BT communicationdevice, an additional communication device dedicated to the printingsystem is unnecessary.

(c) When the confidential printing is unnecessary, the print job can beinitiated immediately without an unnecessary pausing operation.

It should be noted that, even though the authentication information andthe user ID are not registered in the printer 10, when the printingoption is set, if the Link key is input by the user instead of the userID, and is transmitted to the printer 10 together with the printingdata, it may be possible that the printer 10 performs the connectionauthentication using the received Link key. However, in such aconfiguration, the Link key should be input every time the confidentialprinting is requested, which is undesirable in view of security.

In the first embodiment, when the confidential printing is requested,the printing is postponed until the BT communication device of anintended user enters the Piconet area. It should be noted that the termconfidential is used since this function may likely be used well whenthe printout is confidential. However, it is apparent that even if theprintout is not confidential, when the user simply intends to postponethe print job until he/she enters the Piconet area, the print job can bepostponed only by selecting the confidential printing.

In the above-described embodiment, the NVRAM 26 built in the printer 10is used for storing the authentication data (e.g., the semi-fixed Linkkey and the user ID). The invention is not limited to thisconfiguration, and can be modified such that the authentication data isstored in an external storage directly connected to the printer 10, astorage (e.g., a hard disk) provided in an external apparatus (e.g., theserver) connected to the printer 10 through the network, or the like.

Second Embodiment

A structure of the printer according to the second embodiment issubstantially the same as that of the first embodiment except that asize of the communication area of the BT interface 18 and the PRINTPROCEDURE executed by the CPU 30 are different. Therefore, in thefollowing description of the second embodiment, components similar tothose in the first embodiment are given the same reference numerals anddescription thereof will be simplified.

In the second embodiment, the transmission power of the BT interface 18and the cell phone 6 fall within class 1. Accordingly, the BT interface18 is capable of communicating with the cell phone 6 (BT communicationdevice) within a circle whose radius is approximately 100 m (i.e., theradius of the Piconet area is approximately 100 m).

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a PRINT PROCEDURE according to asecond embodiment.

The PRINT PROCEDURE shown in FIG. 5 is different from that shown in FIG.3 in that steps S300 and S310 are inserted between steps S250 and S260.Since S200-S260 have been described, description thereof will not berepeated, and S300 and S310 will be described.

When it is judged, in S250, that there is a BT communication device withwhich the connection authentication has been established (S250: YES),control proceeds to S300. In S300, a request for permission of printingis transmitted to the BT communication device with which the connectionauthentication has been established.

In S310, control waits for a reply to the permission request transmittedin S300. If the reply is received (S310: YES), control proceeds to S260,and a print job is initiated.

Thus, according to the second embodiment, even though the BTcommunication device, with which the connection authentication has beenestablished, is detected, a print job is not initiated automatically.Instead, the print permission request is transmitted to the detected BTcommunication device, and waits for the replay thereto. Accordingly, theuser of the BT communication device wishes that the print job is startedimmediately, he/she may transmit a reply to the printer 10. Upon receiptof the reply (S310: YES), the print job is initiated.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a PRINT START CONFIRMATION PROCEDUREexecuted by the cell phone 6. The procedure shown in FIG. 6 is initiatedwhen the print permission request, which was transmitted by the BTinterface 18 (S300 in FIG. 5), is received.

When the PRINT START CONFIRMATION PROCEDURE is initiated, in S400, amessage asking the user of the cell phone 6 whether the print job is tobe started is displayed on a display device of the cell phone 6.

If the user wishes to start the print job, he/she operates apredetermined key of the cell phone 6. If the predetermined key isoperated (S410: YES), control proceeds to S420, at which the reply istransmitted to the printer 10, and the procedure is terminated. Itshould be noted that the operation in S410 may be done by a simpleinputting operation, such as an operation of a single key.

Next, an exemplary usage of the second embodiment will be described.

As in the example for the first embodiment, it is assumed that a user ofa PC 4 registers his/her cell phone 6 with the printer 10, and operatesthe PC 4 to execute a confidential printing operation. Then, the usergoes toward the printer 10 and enters the Piconet area. When the userenters the Piconet area, the printer detects the BT communication device(i.e., the cell phone 6).

According to the second embodiment, the print job is not initiated atthis stage. When the user enters the Piconet area, a message asking theuser whether the print job is started or not is displayed on the displaydevice of the cell phone 6. If the user intends to, he/she operates thepredetermined key to start the print job. Upon operation of thepredetermined key of the cell phone 6, the reply is transmitted to theprinter 10, and the print job is started immediately.

According to the second embodiment, the following advantages can beachieved.

That is, since the cell phone 6 is used as the general-use BTcommunication device, an additional communication device dedicated tothe printing system is unnecessary.

Further, when the confidential printing is unnecessary, the print jobcan be initiated immediately without an unnecessary pausing operationand confirmation operation.

Further, according to the printer 10, the recipient of the printout candetermine whether the print job is to be started. Accordingly, when therecipient is within the Piconet but not close to the printer 10, theuser may postpone the print job. Thus, it is possible to preventunintentional initiation of the print job. Therefore, theconfidentiality can be maintained.

Further, only by a simple operation of the cell phone 6, the printpermission is instructed to the printer 10.

It should be noted that the printer 10 according to the secondembodiment has a function of not starting the print job until the user(i.e., the recipient) permits the execution of the print job. Thisconfirmation function is particularly advantageous when the Piconet areais relatively wide as in the second embodiment.

Further, if the confirmation function can be turned ON/OFF by the PC 4or the like, it is convenient. That is, selective usage of such afunction depending on an environment of the printer 10 will beconvenient. Alternatively or optionally, the confirming function may beswitched ON/OFF depending on the width of the Piconet area. Preferably,the confirmation function may be turned ON when the Piconet area isrelatively wide, while the confirmation function may be turned OFF whenthe Piconet area is relatively small. It may be further convenient ifthe switching ON/OFF of the confirmation function is automaticallyperformed. Such a configuration can be achieved by selecting theprocedures shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. 5 depending on the environment of theprinter 10 (e.g., the width of the Piconet area).

It should be noted that the above-described printing systems areexemplary embodiments of the invention, and can be modified in variousways.

For example, the printer 10 according to the first and secondembodiments, as the authentication information, the semi-fixed Link keyis registered in relationship to the user ID. However, the invention isnot limited to such a configuration, and for example, the BD address isregistered as the authentication information, and connectionauthentication may be executed using an initializing key that isgenerated using the BD address as registered.

In the printer 10 according to the first or second embodiment, theconfidential printing can be executed when the BT communication deviceis detected. Alternatively or optionally, the printer may be furthermodified such that the confidential printing is started when a user ID,password or the like is input through the operation unit 14 of theprinter 10. In this case, it may be possible to start a confidentialprinting when the cell phone 6 enters the Piconet area or thepredetermined key input is performed at the operation unit 14.Alternatively, it may be possible that different confidential print jobsmay be initiated depending on whether the cell phone 6 enters thePiconet area or the key input is performed through the operation unit14. In the latter case, when the printing option is input on the PC 4,one of a plurality of types of confidential printing methods may beselected.

The printer 10 described above communicates with the cell phone 6 inaccordance with the Bluetooth communication method. However, theinvention is not limited to such a configuration, and, the printingsystem having the similar function may be realized even if another typeof communication device and/or another type of communication method isemployed. It should be noted, however, the printer 10 is required todistinguish individual communication devices, and thus, thecommunication method to be employed should perform a communicationauthentication using the authentication information intrinsic to eachcommunication device.

Further, in the first and second embodiments, as the BT devicecommunication with the printer 10, the cell phone 6 is used. However,the invention is not limited to this configuration and any other BTdevices (e.g., a wrist watch having the BT function) may be used as thedevice communicating with the printer 10. It should noted, however, whenthe confirmation is required as in the second embodiment, the BT deviceneeds to be provided with an notification system (e.g., a displaydevice) and an input device through which the user transmits permissionof execution of a print job. Therefore, in such a configuration, it ispreferable that a PDA, PHS and the like may be used instead of the cellphone 6.

In the above embodiments, the printer 10 is employed in the printingsystem. The invention is not limited to this configuration, and afacsimile device or an MFP (multi-function peripheral) may be used inplace of or in addition to the printer 10.

Still further, in the first and second embodiments, it is assumed thatthe user of the PC 4 is the recipient of the printout. It is apparentthat the user of the PC 4 and the recipient of the printout can bedifferent. In this case, the confidential document transmitted from theuser of the PC 4 to the recipient, who is different from the user of thePC 4, will not be viewed by another person.

In the above-described embodiments, the printing data is transmittedfrom the PC 4 to the printer 10. However, the invention is not limitedto this configuration, and the data transmission between facsimiledevices may be subject to the present invention.

In FIG. 5, if the reply is not received from the cell phone 6, step S310is repeated. This may be modified such that, the procedure shown in FIG.5 is terminated if the reply is not received after a predetermined timeperiod has elapsed since the transmission of the permission request.Alternatively, the control may be modified to proceed from S310 to S260if the reply is not received after a predetermined time period haselapsed since the permission request was transmitted.

Third Embodiment

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a data management system 2000 according toa third embodiment of the invention.

As shown in FIG. 7, the data management system 2000 includes a fileserver 100 that stores and manages image data files representative ofletters, characters, symbols and figures to be printed, a plurality ofprinters 10M, a plurality of workstations 40, which are interconnectedthrough a network (LAN) 2 so that bi-directional data communication canbe performed therebetween.

The server 100 of the data management system 2000 includes a CPU 101that controls entire operation of the server 100, a ROM 102 that storesprograms to be executed by the CPU 101, a RAM 103 that temporarilystores data when the programs are executed by the CPU 101, and acommunication unit 104 that performs the bi-directional datacommunication with the printers 10M and/or workstations 40 through thenetwork 2. The server 100 further includes a hard disk drive (HDD) 105,and in the HDD 105, a database (DB) 105 a is constructed, which is usedfor managing image data (hereinafter referred to as printing data) to beprinted by the printers 10M.

Each of the printers 10M includes a CPU 130 for controlling the entireoperation of the printer 10M, a ROM 122 that stores programs to beexecuted by the CPU 130, a RAM 124 that temporarily stores data when theprograms are executed by the CPU 130, a communication unit 116 throughwhich the bi-directional data communication is performed with theworkstations 40 and/or the other printers 10M through the network 2.Further, the printer 10M includes a wireless communication unit 118provided with an antenna 118 a. The wireless communication unit 118performs a bi-directional communication with an external wirelessstation 50 within a predetermined area (indicated by dotted line).Further, the printer 10M is provided with a display unit 126 includingan LCD that displays operation status or the like of the printer 10M fora user, and an operation unit 114 including key switches and the like,through which the user can input various commands to operate the printer10M.

Each of the wireless stations 50 includes a wireless communication unit55 for performing the bi-directional wireless data communication withthe printer 10M, a display unit 51 that displays information based ondisplay data received through an antenna 50 a and the communication unit55.

Each wireless station 50 is assigned with a user ID for identifying auser of the wireless station 50. The wireless communication unit 55transmits the user ID when a wireless data communication is performedwith the printer 10M. Examples of such a wireless station 50 are mobilecomputers, cell phones and the like.

In the above-described data management system 2000, a printer 10Mclosest to a current position of a user having a wireless station 50 isused for printing the printing data stored in the file server 100 bycontrolling the server 100, printers 10M and wireless stations 50 tooperate as follows.

Before printing, the user operates the workstation 40 to registerprinting data with the database 105 a.

That is, when the user input a command instructing transmission ofprinting data to the workstation 40, the CPU of the workstation 40executes a DATA TRANSMISSION/REGISTERATION PROCEDURE shown in FIG. 8 toregister the printing data with the data base 15 a of the server 100.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating the DATA TRANSMISSION/REGISTRATIONPROCEDURE.

When the DATA TRANSMISSION/REGISTRATION PROCEDURE is initiated, in S510,the data designated by the user is retrieved from a recording medium(e.g., a built-in hard disk, a flexible disk and the like) accessible bythe workstation 40. In S520, an input window is displayed on adisplaying device connected to the workstation 40 to require the user toinput an ID (hereinafter referred to as a sender ID) of the user who isregistering the printing data with the data base 105 a, and an ID(hereinafter referred to as a recipient ID) of a target user (i.e., arecipient) who is supposed to receive the printout of the printing dataabout to be registered.

In S530, the workstation 40 receives the sender ID and the recipient ID,which may be input by the user. It should be noted that the sender IDand the recipient ID are stored as default IDs and will be used in thesubsequent execution of this procedure until the user input new IDs.With such a configuration, the operation is simplified such that theuser need not input the same IDs every time the procedure shown in FIG.8 is executed.

When the steps S510-S530 have been finished, the workstation 40 createsa job ID based on, for example, the file name of the printing data(S540). In S550, the IDs (i.e., the sender ID, recipient ID and the jobID) and the printing data are put into a packet (e.g., IP packet ifTCP/IP is employed as a communication protocol), which is transmitted tothe server 100.

When the server 100 receives the packet containing the printing data andthe IDs, which packet was transmitted from the workstation 40, with thecommunication unit 104, the CPU 101 executes the DATA REGISTERATIONPROCEDURE shown in FIG. 9A to register the printing data with the database 105 a.

FIG. 9A is a flowchart illustrating the DATA REGISTRATION PROCEDUREexecuted by the CPU 101 of the server 101.

When the procedure is initiated, the IDs and printing data are extractedfrom the received packet (S560), to which a management ID is assigned(S570). In S580, the IDs and the printing data are stored inrelationship to the management ID.

FIG. 9B shows a data structure of a piece of data stored in the database 105 a. It should be noted that the management ID is an ID assignedto each piece of printing data and intrinsic thereto. A management ID isnot assigned to a plurality of pieces of printing data in the data base105 a. Thus, when one management ID is designated in the data base 105a, one piece of printing data is identified.

When step S580 is done, the server 10 transmits a packet containing therecipient ID of the registered data to all the printers 10M in thenetwork (S590) to notify registration of new data in the data base 105 a(hereinafter the packet will be referred to as a registrationnotification).

Each printer 10M of the data management system 2000 executes a NUMBER OFREGISTERED DATA CALCULATING PROCEDURE shown in FIG. 10 to calculates thenumber of pieces of the printing data of the user whose recipient ID isthe same as the received recipient ID.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating the NUMBER OF REGISTERE DATACALCULATING PROCEDURE performed by each printer 10M.

When each printer 10M receives a packet from the server 100, in S610, itis judged the received packet is the registration notification. If thereceived packet is not the registration notification (S610: NO), aREPLYING PROCEDURE (see FIG. 15) is called in S665. If the receivedpacket is the registration notification (S610: YES), control proceeds toS620, where the number of the pieces of the registered datacorresponding to the recipient ID contained in the registrationnotification is incremented by one. If there is no registered datacorresponding to the recipient ID, it is newly stored in the RAM 124 inrelationship to the recipient data, with the number of the pieces of theregistration data being set to one.

In S630, it is judged whether the number of the pieces of the registereddata is to be notified to wireless stations 50. If the notification isunnecessary (S630: NO), the procedure shown in FIG. 10 is terminated. Ifit is necessary (S630: YES), control proceeds to S640. It should benoted that it is convenient if a decision condition for S630 can bechanged by the user. That is, if the condition for. S630 is determinedsuch that the notification is necessary when the number of the pieces ofthe registered data exceeds n, and the number n is changeable by theuser, the user can adjust the interval between notifications.

In S640, the printer 10M starts communicating with the wireless station50 having the user ID same as the recipient ID contained in theregistration notification. When the connection is established, i.e.,when the printer 10M and the wireless station 50 are connected toperform bi-directional communication (S650: YES), then the printer 10Mtransmits the number of the pieces of the registered data to thewireless station 50 (S660). If the connection is not established (S650:NO), the procedure is terminated although the notification is not madeto the wireless station 50.

For example, when the wireless station 50 and the printer 10Mcommunicate through a wireless LAN, the following procedure isperformed. Firstly, the printer 10M collects the user IDs from theaccessible wireless stations 50 (i.e., located within an accessiblearea) through the wireless communication. Then, the printer 10M judgeswhether an ID corresponding to the recipient ID is included in thecollected user IDs (S640).

If the user ID identical to the recipient ID is included in thecollected user IDs, the judgment in S650 is YES, and in S660, the numberof the pieces of the registered data is notified to the printer havingthe user ID identical to the recipient ID.

In the above-described embodiment, the printer 10M collects the user IDsof the wireless stations 50 located in the accessible area. However, theinvention is not limited to such a configuration, and the wirelessstations 50 are configured to transmit their user IDs periodically tothe printers 10M. Alternatively, the wireless stations 50 may transmittheir user IDs when they receive a request command therefor from theprinter 10M.

Further, procedure in steps S640 through S660 is a non-restrictiveexemplary procedure and may be modified appropriately.

When the wireless station 50 receives a wireless signal from the printer10M through the antenna 50 a, a DISPLAY PROCEDURE shown in FIG. 11 isinitiated.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a DISPLAY PROCEDURE executed by thewireless station 50.

When the wireless station 50 receives a signal, it judges, in S670,whether the received signal represents data related to the number ofpieces of the registered data. If it is judged that the received signalrepresents the number of the pieces of the registered data, the numberis displayed on the display 51 (s680). If it is judged that the receivedsignal represents data responding to a list request that request for alist of the pieces of the printing data stored in the data base 105 a,control proceeds to S690.

In S690, based on the data which is a response to the list request isdisplayed in S690, i.e., the ID information of the printing data (i.e.,the management ID, sender ID and user ID) is displayed in the form oflist.

As described above, the wireless station 50 includes an operation unit52, through which the user can input various commands, which aretransmitted to the printer 10M.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a REQUEST SIGNAL TRANSMITTINGPROCEDURE executed by the wireless station 50 when the operation unit 52is operated.

In S710, it is judged whether the input command requests for the numberof the pieces of the registered data. If the received command requestsfor the number of the pieces of the registered data (S710: YES), controlproceeds to S720, where a request for notification of the number of theregistered data is transmitted together with the user ID assigned to thewireless station 50.

If the input command is not the request for the number of the pieces ofthe registered data (S710: NO), control proceeds to S730, where the typeof the input command is determined.

If the input command is a request for display of a list of the printingdata registered n the data base 105 a, control proceeds to S740, wherethe request for the list is transmitted by the communication unit 55 tothe printer 10M together with the user ID assigned to the wirelessstation 50.

If the input command is a request for printing, it is further judges atS750 whether the printing data subject to the printing is the dataselected from the list which is requested in S720 and displayed in S690of FIG. 11. If the data to be printed is the data selected from the list(S750: YES), control designates the printing data subject to the requestfor printing by its management ID and transmits the request for printingto the printer 10M together with the management ID (S753). If theprinting data subject to the request for printing is not selected (S750:NO), the request for printing is transmitted to the printer 10M togetherwith the user ID assigned to the wireless station 50.

If the input command is a request for deletion of a piece of printingdata from the data base 105 a, the deletion request is transmitted tothe printer 10M together with the management ID of the printing data tobe deleted (S760).

When the printer 10M receives the wireless signal from the wirelessstation 50, a RECEPTION/TRANSMISSION PROCEDURE shown in FIG. 13 isexecuted.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating the RECEPTION/TRANSMISSION PROCEDUREexecuted by the CPU 21 of the printer 10M.

In S810, it is judged whether the received signal represents the requestfor the number of the pieces of the registered data (i.e., thenotification request). If the received data is the notification request(S810: YES), control proceeds to S820, where, based on the user IDcontained in the received signal, the number of the pieces of theregistered data whose recipient IDs coincide with the user ID of thewireless station 50 are retrieved from the list of the number of thepieces of the registered data stored in the RAM 124. Then, in S830, thenumber of the pieces of the registered data having the recipient IDidentical to the user ID of the wireless station 50 which transmittedthe notification request is transmitted to the wireless station 50.

If it is judged that the received signal is not the notification request(S810: NO), control proceed to S840, where the type of the receivedsignal is judged.

If the signal received from the wireless station 50 represents a requestfor a list of the registered data, control proceeds to S850 and therequest for display of the list is transmitted from the communicationunit 116 to the server 100 together with the user ID of the wirelessstation 50.

If the signal received from the wireless station 50 represents a requestfor printing, control proceeds to S860 and the request for printing(i.e., print instruction) is transmitted from the communication unit 116to the server 100 together with the ID information including the user IDof the wireless station 50 and the management ID identifying theprinting data subject to be printed.

If the signal received from the wireless station 50 represents a requestfor deletion of a piece of printing data, control proceeds to S870 andthe request for deletion is transmitted from the communication unit 116to the sever 100 together with the ID information including themanagement ID identifying the printing data subject to be deleted.

After the transmission of data/request in S830, S850, S870 or S860, theprocedure shown in FIG. 13 is terminated.

The server 100 executes a DATA TRANSMISSION PROCEDURE shown in FIG. 14when it receives a packet including the request data described above,and transmits data in response to the received request.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating the DATA TRANSMISSION PROCEDUREexecuted by the CPU 101 of the server 100.

When the server 100 receives a packet in S910, it judges the kind of therequests contained in the received packet (signal).

If the received signal represents a request for displaying a list of theregistered printing data, the CPU 101 extracts the user ID contained inthe received packet (S921), and searches for the printing data stored inrelationship to a recipient ID identical to the extracted user ID in thedata base 105 a, and retrieves the ID information (sender ID, recipientID, job ID and management ID) related to the printing data correspondingto the recipient ID (S925). Then, in S927, a list of the thus obtainedID information of the printing data is transmitted back to the printer10M that transmitted the request, and the procedure of FIG. 13 isterminated.

If the received signal represents the request for printing, the CPU 101obtains the ID information, which is contained in the received signal,identifying the printing data subject to be printed (S931), and judgeswhether the ID information represents the user ID or the management ID(S933).

If the CPU 101 judges that the ID information represents the managementID, control proceeds to S735, where the printing data stored in the database 105 a in relationship to the management ID is retrieved, and isprinted to the printer 10M from which the request was transmitted(S939). If it is judged that the ID information represents the user ID,control proceeds to S937, where all the pieces of the printing datawhich are stored in the data base 105 a in relationship to a recipientID identical to the user ID, which data is transmitted to the printer10M from which the request was transmitted (S939). After thetransmission of the printing data in S939, the procedure of FIG. 14 isterminated.

If it is judged that the received signal represents the request fordeletion, control proceeds to S941, where the CPU 101 obtains themanagement ID of the printing data, and deletes the printing data storedin the data base 105 a in relationship to the management ID. Further, inS947, the CPU 101 notifies completion of the deletion of the data to theprinter 10M from which the deletion request was transmitted.

When the printer 10M receives a signal which has been transmitted fromthe server 100 in response to the signal transmitted in theRECEPTION/TRANSMISSION PROCEDURE (FIG. 13), in S610 of FIG. 10, it isjudged that the received signal is not the registration notification(S610: NO), and the REPLYING PROCEDURE shown in FIG. 15 is called inS665 of FIG. 10.

In S1010, the type of the received signal is judged. If it is judgedthat the received signal represents replying data which is transmittedin response to the request for display of a list, control proceeds toS1020, where the list of the ID information of the printing datacontained in the replying data is converted into a signal suitable fordisplay on the display unit 51 of the wireless station 50, and theconverted signal (i.e., the data for display) is transmitted to thewireless station 50 (S1025). After transmitting the data to the wirelessstation 50 in S1025, the procedure shown in FIG. 15 is terminated.

When the wireless station 50 receives the data for displaying the list,it is displayed on the display unit 51 of the wireless station (FIG. 11,S670 and S690).

When the printer 10M receives the printing data from the server 100,control proceeds from S1010 to S1030, where the printing procedure isperformed. In the printing procedure, the components of the printer 10Mare controlled and an image is formed on a recording sheet in accordancewith the received printing data, and the recording sheet is dischargedfrom the printer 10M.

When the printer 10M receives the notification of deletion of printingdata, control proceeds from S1010 to S1040, where the number of thepieces of the registered data for the recipient corresponding to theuser ID of the deleted data is decremented by one, and then theprocedure shown in FIG. 15 is terminated.

As described above, with the data management system 2000 according tothe third embodiment, in accordance with the request transmitted by thewireless station 50, designated printing data is printed by the printer10M located close to the wireless station 50.

With this configuration, it becomes unnecessary for the user to executedetailed setting on the workstation 40. By registering the recipient IDand the printing data with the server 100, when the user input theprinting request through the wireless station 50 and sends the same tothe printer 10M, the printer 10M close to the recipient prints out theprinting data.

In particular, according to the data management system 2000 describedabove, the printer 10M is configured not to print the printing datauntil the request for printing input. In other words, printing of theprinting data can be performed at a desired timing. Therefore, when datahaving a relatively higher confidentiality is to be printed, it isensured that the printout can be received by the designated recipient.Accordingly, such confidential printouts may not be stolen or taken outby a person other than the targeted recipient.

Optionally, the CPU 101 of the printer 10M is configured such thatsignals similar to those transmitted from the wireless station (e.g.,the request for notification of the number of the registered data,request for display of a list, print request, deletion request) may beobtained through the operation of the operation unit 114. That is, whenthe user operates the operation unit 114, the RECEPTION/TRANSMISSIONPROCEDURE shown in FIG. 13 is performed, and procedure corresponding tothe operation of the operation unit 114 is performed. Therefore, theuser can input request signals, which are input by operating thewireless station 50, can also be input to the printer 10M by operatingthe operation unit 114.

According to the data management system 2000, the server 100automatically selects the printing data for the recipient ID from thedata base 105 a in accordance with the user ID corresponding to theprint request, and transmits the printing data to the printer 10Mlocated close to the user to output the same. Therefore, the user neednot manually select the data addressed to him/her by operating theoperation unit 52. Only by operating to send the print request, theprinting data addressed to the user of the wireless station 50 isprinted with the printer 10M close to the user.

The data management system 2000 is configured to transmits the number ofregistered printing data to the wireless stations 50 at predeterminedintervals. Therefore, the users can easily recognize the number of datadirected to them. In other words, in the data management system 2000 iscapable of letting the users to recognize that the printing data isregistered with the data base 105 a at every predetermined interval.

Further, according to the data management system 2000, a list of the IDinformation of the registered printing data can be displayed on thedisplay units 51 of the wireless stations 50. Thus, the users canrecognize the detailed information of the printing data registered withthe data base 105 a.

That is, according to the data management system 2000, each user cancheck the printing data registered with the data base 105 a with the IDinformation list for himself/herself displayed on the display unit 51 ofthe wireless station even when a plurality of pieces of printing dataare registered with the data base 105 a.

In the above-described third embodiment, the list is displayed on thedisplay unit 51 of the wireless station 50. It can be modified such thatthe ID information list is displayed on the display unit 126 of theprinter 10M when the request for the list is input through the operationunit 114 of the printer 10M.

According to the data management system 2000, the user selects theprinting data to be printed from among the plurality of pieces ofprinting data indicated in the list. Therefore, the user can initiatesthe print job for each printing data at a desired timing.

According to the data management system 2000, the printing data is notdeleted automatically from the data base 105 a even after the printingdata is printed. Therefore, if a piece of the printing data is onceregistered with the data base 105 a, the user can print the same aplurality of times until the user intentionally delete the printingdata. Of course, the invention need not be limited to such aconfiguration, and may be modified to automatically delete the printingdata after it is printed.

Each of the database management system, database server and imageforming device (printer) is not limited to that described above, andvarious modification may be applied without departing from the gist ofthe invention.

For example, in the above-describe embodiment, when a piece of theprinting data is deleted from the database 105 a, the piece of the datato be deleted is designated with its management ID, and the request fordeletion is transmitted to the server 100. This configuration may bemodified such that the printing data to be deleted is identified withthe user ID, and the server 100 deletes, from the database 105 a, allthe pieces of the printing data which are stored in relationship to therecipient ID identical to the designated user ID.

With such a configuration, the user can delete a plurality of pieces ofprinting data simultaneously. Therefore, for example, the user candelete all the data addressed to him/her from the database 105 a at atime.

If the system 2000 is configured such that the printing data to bedeleted is designated with the user ID and the management ID, advantagesof designating the data with the user ID and with the management ID canbe obtained.

In the third embodiment, the wireless station 50 may be a note typepersonal computer or a cell phone. Alternatively, the wireless station50 may be a dedicated device having a function of sending the user ID,the request signals and the like.

Alternatively, the wireless station may be a transmitter whichperiodically transmits the user ID. Further alternatively, the wirelessstation may be an IC card or the like which receives the electromagneticwave with an antenna having a loop coil and generates a modified wavebased on the user ID and transmits the same.

In the above-described third embodiment, the user ID is obtained withthe wireless communication using the wireless communication unit 118 ofthe printer 10M. It can be modified such that a plurality of user IDreceiving device including wireless communication units within thenetwork, separately from the printers 10M or in addition to thecommunication unit 118 of the printers 10M, and that information relatedto the detected user ID is transmitted to the server 100. In this case,by configuring the server 100 such that the target printer 10M isdetermined based on the network address of the user ID receiving device,the printing data is printed by the printer close to the user.

In the above-described embodiment, as an example of registering theprinting data with the database 105 a of the server 100, a plurality ofworkstations 40 connected with the network 3 are described. The systemmay be modified such that the printing data includes data transmittedfrom facsimile devices. In this case, for example, the server 100 isconfigured to be connected with a public telephone line, and image dataand a recipient ID are received from the facsimile device andregistered.

Fourth Embodiment

FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a data managementsystem 3000 according to a fourth embodiment.

The data management system 3000 shown in FIG. 16 is for managing imagedata, i.e., printing data and facsimile data, to be printed withprinters 10N connected to a LAN 2. The data management system alsoincludes a document server 100M and cell phones 6.

In the data management system, the document server 100M is connectedwith a plurality of printers 10N and personal computers (PC) 4 throughthe LAN 2. The server 100M is also connected with the Internet 301through the LAN 2, and with the public telephone service network 302.

Each of the server 100N, the cell phones 6 and the printers 10N iscapable of performing data communication in accordance with theBluetooth communication method of class 1.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the documentserver 100N.

As shown in FIG. 17, the document server 100M includes a control unit1012, a display unit 1014 which displays information on a display device(not shown), an input unit 1016 through which a user can input operationcommands or the like through a keyboard (not shown) thereof, an NVRAM(Non-volatile RAM) 1018, a public telephone network communication unit1020 which exchanges data through the public telephone service network302, a network communication unit 1022 which exchanges data through theLAN 2, a Bluetooth communication unit 1024 which exchanges data inaccordance with the Bluetooth communication method, a data storage unit1026 which stores received printing data and/or facsimile data on astorage medium such as a hard disk drive or the like (not shown), and abus 1028 connecting the above-described components of the documentserver 100M.

The NVRAM 1018 includes a printer database 1030, a recipient database1032 and a communication method database 1034. The data stored in thesedatabases are input through the input unit 1016.

FIG. 18 is a chart illustrating data stored in the printer database1030. The printer database 1030 stores data for each printer 10Nconnected with the document server 100M through the LAN 2. Specifically,as shown in FIG. 18, for each printer 10N, a name of the printer, an IPaddress (Internet Protocol address) and a BD address are stored.Further, one of the stored printers 10N is designated as a defaultprinter, which is referred to in a procedure described later. In theexample shown in FIG. 18, the default printer 10N is indicated byasterisk “*” in the “default device” column. In the followingdescription, the printer 10N designated as the default device will bereferred to as a default printer 10N.

FIG. 19 is a chart illustrating a recipient database 1032. The recipientdatabase 1032 stores information of recipients who are supposed to usethe data management system shown in FIG. 16 and receive printouts of theprinters 10N. Specifically, as information for each recipient, a name ofthe recipient, an e-mail address as information regarding a targetcommunication device (i.e., a cell phone 6) the recipient has, a BDaddress and the phone number of the cell phone 10N.

FIG. 20 is a chart illustrating a communication method database 1034.The communication method database 1034 stores information regarding apriority with respect to communication methods to be used forcommunicating from the document server 100M to the cell phone 6. In thisexample, three communication methods (i.e., Bluetooth, e-mail and phonecall) and priority thereof are stored.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the cell phone 6according to the fourth embodiment. According to the fourth embodiment,each recipient has a cell phone 6, which includes a Bluetoothcommunication unit 1042 which exchanges data in accordance with theBluetooth communication method, a wireless communication unit 1044 whichtransmits/receives data through the Internet 301 and/or public telephoneservice network 302 by a wireless communication with a closest basestation, a display unit 1046 which displays information on a displaydevice (not shown) thereof, an input unit 1048 through which a userinput various command through a keyboard (not shown) thereof, an NVRAM1050, a control unit 1052 for performing various controls and a bus 54that connects the above-described components of the cell phone 6.

The printer 10N is a general use printer which printouts an imagerepresented by the printing data and/or facsimile data received formoutside.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the printer 10Naccording to the fourth embodiment. The printer 10N includes an NVRAM1062, a display unit 1064 that displays information on a display device(not shown) thereof, an input unit 1066 through which a user inputvarious commands with a keyboard (not shown) thereof, a Bluetoothcommunication unit 1068 which transmits/receives data in accordance withthe Bluetooth communication method, a printing unit 1070 that printoutsthe image represented by the received printing data and the facsimiledata, a control unit 1072 for performing various controls, a networkcommunication unit 1074 which transmits/receives data through the LAN 2and a bus 76 for connecting the above-described components of theprinter 10N.

In each of the personal computers 4, a printer driver for the datamanagement system according the fourth embodiment is installed. When aprint job is performed, as optional settings, a target document server100M can be designated, and a name or the like of the recipient of theoutput of the print job can be input. When the printing data istransmitted, the personal computer 4 transmits, to the designateddocument server 100M, the printing data together with the input name ofthe recipient, through the LAN 2.

When the document server 100M receives the printing data which istransmitted by a personal computer 4 through the LAN 2, or facsimiledata through the public telephone service network 302 or the Internet301, the received data (i.e., the printing data or the facsimile data)is once stored in the stored, and transmits a notification of receipt ofsuch data to the recipient of the received data to the cell phone 6 ofthe recipient. Thereafter, when the document server 100M receives acommand designating the printer 10N to be used for printing the receiveddata, the document server 100M transmits the received data to thedesignated printer 10N.

Next, a procedure for transmitting data which is executed by the controlunit 1012 will be described with reference to FIG. 23.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating a DATA TRANSMISSION PROCEDUREexecuted by the control unit 1012. The procedure shown in FIG. 23 isinitiated when the document server 100M receives data through thenetwork communication unit 1022 or the public phone communication unit1020.

In S1100, the received data is stored in the storage unit 1026. Then, inS1110, a RECIPIENT INFORMATION CONFIRMATION PROCEDURE is executed tocheck/confirm whether the received data includes information regardingthe recipient of the data.

If the information regarding the recipient is not included in thereceived data (S1120: NO), control proceeds to S1130, where the networkcommunication unit 1022 is controlled to transmit the received datawhich has been stored in the storage unit 1026 to the default printer10M through the LAN 2. When the received data is transmitted to thedefault printer 10M, the IP address stored in the printer database 1030is referred to.

IF the information regarding the recipient is included in the receiveddata (S1120: YES), control proceeds to S1140. In S1140, a COMMUNICTIONMETHOD SELECTIING PROCEDURE is performed to select a communicationmethod used for transmitting the receipt notification to the cell phone6 of the recipient. In the following description, the recipient will bereferred to as recipient A. The procedure at S1140 will be describedlater.

After the communication method is determined in S1140, control proceedsto S1150, in which the communication unit corresponding to thedetermined communication method is controlled to transmits the receiptnotification (i.e., the notification informing the recipient A of thereceipt of printing data or facsimile data) to the cell phone 6 of therecipient.

In S1160, it is judged whether a print instruction is received from therecipient A (i.e., the cell phone 6 of the recipient A). It should benoted that the print instruction is transmitted in accordance with oneof the Bluetooth communication method, e-mail or telephone call.

It should be noted that whether the received print instruction istransmitted from the cell phone 6 of the recipient A is judged asfollows.

(1) If the print instruction is transmitted in accordance with theBluetooth method, the instruction includes the BD address of the cellphone 6 of the sender. Therefore, by comparing the BD address includedin the received print instruction with data of the recipient database,whether the received BD address is from the cell phone 6 of therecipient A can be judged.

(2) If the print instruction is transmitted by e-mail through theInternet 301, the instruction includes the e-mail address of the cellphone 6 of the sender. Therefore, similarly to the above case, byreferring to the recipient database, whether the print instruction istransmitted by the recipient A can be judged.

(3) If the print instruction is transmitted by a telephone through thepublic telephone service network 302, the instruction includes thetelephone number of the cell phone 6 of the sender. Therefore, based onthe telephone number of the sender, whether the print instruction istransmitted from the recipient A can be judged.

In the above configuration, the judgment is done based on thecommunication information intrinsic to the cell phone 6. However, theconfiguration need not be limited to this example. For example, if thedocument server 100M transmits the receipt notification including someidentifiable information, and the cell phone 6 which received thereceipt information send the print instruction which also includes theidentifiable information, the document server 100M is capable of judgingwhether the print instruction is transmitted from the cell phone 6 ofthe recipient A.

If it is judged that the printing instruction is not received from thecell phone 6 of the recipient (S1160: NO), control proceeds to S1170,where it is judged whether a predetermined time period T1 has passedsince the receipt notice was transmitted to the cell phone 6. If it isjudged that the time period T1 has not yet elapsed (S1170: NO), controlreturns to S1160. If it is judged that the time period T1 has elapsed(S1170: YES), control proceeds to S1130, where the network communicationunit 1022 is controlled to transmit the received data which has beenstored in the storage unit 1026 to the default printer 10N through theLAN 2.

If it is judged that the print instruction from the cell phone 6 of therecipient A is received (S1160: YES), control proceeds to S1180, wherethe network communication unit 1022 is controlled to transmit thereceived data which has been stored in the storage unit 1026 to theprinter 10N that is determined based on the print instruction. It shouldbe noted that the print instruction contains the BD address of theprinter 10N which is detected by the cell phone 6 of the recipient A.Based on the BD address of the printer 10N, the IP address thereof isdetected from the printer database 1030, which is used as the targetaddress of the printer 10N to which the received data (i.e., theprinting data or the facsimile data) is transmitted.

It should be noted that, if the printer 10N to which the received datais transmitted is the printer 10N within a Piconet area (within a circlecentered on the cell phone 6 whose radius is 10 m in the fourthembodiment) of the document server 100M, the received data may betransmitted through the Bluetooth communication unit 1024. In this case,the BD address of the printer 10N included in the received printinstruction can be used as the communication information fortransmitting the received data as it is, and therefore, it isunnecessary to refer to the printer database 1030.

After transmitting the received data to the printer 10N in step S1130 orS1180, control proceeds to S1190. In S1190, the data storage unit 1026is controlled to delete the printing data which has been transmitted tothe printer 10N, and the procedure shown in FIG. 23 is terminated.

According to the fourth embodiment, when the received data does notcontain the recipient information, or when the recipient information iscontained but the print instruction is not received within apredetermined period T1, the received data is transmitted to the defaultprinter 10N. If the received data includes the recipient information andthe print instruction is received within the predetermined period T1,the received data is transmitted to the printer 10N in accordance withthe print instruction.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart illustrating a RECIPIENT INFORMATION CONFIRMATIONPROCEDURE which is executed by the control unit 1012 of the documentserver 100M. It should be noted that the procedure is called in S1110 inthe flowchart shown in FIG. 23.

When the RECIPIENT INFORMATION CONFIRMATION PROCEDURE is initiated, inS1200, it is judged whether the received data is the facsimile data. Thetype of the received data is judged based on which unit has received thesignal, and a format of the received data. That is, if the data isreceived through the public telephone service network 1020, it is judgedthat the received data is the facsimile data. If the data is receivedthrough the network communication unit 1022, the received data may bethe printing data from the personal computer 4 or the facsimile datafrom an Internet facsimile. Based on the protocol used (and the dataformat, if necessary), the type of the received data is finally judged.

If it is judged that the received data is the facsimile data (S1200:YES), control proceeds to S1210, where the received data is scanned andits addressing portion (e.g., an upper left portion of a first page ofthe image represented by the data) is referred to. Then, in S1220, it isjudged whether the addressing portion of the image represented by thereceived data includes a name.

If the name is included in the addressing portion (S1220: YES), controlproceeds to S1230. In S1230, the name in the addressing portion isregarded as the recipient information representing the recipient nameand the procedure shown in FIG. 24 is terminated.

If the name is not included in the addressing portion (S1220: NO),control proceeds to S1240, where it is determined that the received datadoes not include the recipient information, and the procedure isterminated.

If it is judged that the received data is not the facsimile data (i.e.,the received data is the printing data) (S1250: NO), control proceedsS1240, where it is determined that the received data does not includethe recipient information, and the procedure is terminated.

If it is judged that the recipient name is included (S1250: YES),control proceeds to S1260, where the recipient data is determined to bethe recipient information, and the procedure of FIG. 24 is terminated.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart illustrating a COMMUNICATION METHOD SELECTINGPROCEDURE executed by the control unit 1012 of the document server 100M.The procedure is called in S1140 of the DATA TRANSMISSION PROCEDUREshown in FIG. 23.

In S1300, with reference to the communication method database 1034, thecommunication method having the highest priority (the Bluetooth methodin this example) is selected. Then, control proceeds to S1310, where,with reference to the recipient database 1032, it is judged whether thecommunication information employing the selected communication method isregistered for the recipient A represented by the recipient informationincluded in the received data. It should be noted that, in S1310, evenif the BD address is registered with the recipient database 1032, if thecell phone having the BD address is not located within the communicablearea (i.e., in the Piconet area of the document server 100M), it isregarded that the BD address is not registered.

If it is judged that the communication information is not registered(S1310: NO), control proceeds to S1320, where a communication methodhaving the next priority is selected with reference to the communicationmethod database 1034, and control returns to S1310.

If it is judged that communication information is registered (S1310:YES), control proceeds to S1330, where the selected communication methodis determined as the communication method to be used, and the procedureshown in FIG. 25 is terminated.

According to the procedure shown in FIG. 25, from among the possiblecommunication methods usable with respect to the cell phone 6 of therecipient A, one having the highest priority is selected. In thisexample, the priority is determined based on the communication cost.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart illustrating a SEARCHING PROCEDURE executed bythe control unit 1052 of the cell phone 6. The procedure shown in FIG.26 is initiated automatically when the receipt notification from thedocument server 100M is received by the Bluetooth communication unit1042 or the wireless communication unit 1044. It should be noted that,when the notification is transmitted by e-mail, the procedure shown inFIG. 26 is initiated when an command for opening the received e-mail isinput through the operation key of the input unit 1048.

When the SEARCHING PROCEDURE is initiated, in S1400, a messageindicating that the received data is transmitted to the document server100M is displayed on the display unit 1046. In S1410, it is judgedwhether a printer 10N is located within the Piconet area of the cellphone 6. That is, a printer 10N is searched within the Piconet area.

Specifically, a request signal requesting a Bluetooth device within thePiconet area for reply is transmitted by the Bluetooth communicationunit 1042, and it is judged whether a reply signal replaying to therequest signal is received by the Bluetooth communication unit 1042. Ifa Bluetooth device other than the cell phone 6 is located within thePiconet area, the Bluetooth communication unit 1042 receives the replyfrom the device. However, the Bluetooth communication unit 1042 has afunction of asking a type of the communicating device as a standardfunction, and with use of this function, whether the reply istransmitted from the printer 10N or not can be judged. When the replysignal is received, the BD address of the sender of the reply signal isalso obtained.

If it is judged that there is no printer 10N within the Piconet area(S1410: NO), control proceeds to S1420, where it is judged whether apredetermined period T2 has passed since search of the printer 10N wasstarted.

If it is judged that the predetermined period T2 has elapsed (S1420:YES), the procedure shown in FIG. 26 is terminated.

If it is judged that the predetermined period T2 has not elapsed (S1420:NO), control pauses for a period T2 in S1430 and then returns to S1410to search the printer 10N again. The pause in S1430 is provided to lowerpower consumption for searching the printer 10N.

If it is judged that the printer(s) 10N is located within the Piconetarea (S1410: YES), control proceeds to S1411. In S1411, it is judgedwhether only one printer is located within the Piconet area. It shouldbe noted that a plurality of printers may be found within the Piconetarea. In such a case, it is preferable that the printer closest to thecell phone 6 is used. According to the embodiment, if it is judged thatmore than one printers 10N are found within the Piconet area (S1411:NO), the Piconet area is reduced by lowering transmission power (S1413).The steps S1410 through S1413 are repeated until only one printer islocated within the Piconet area. With this configuration, the printerclosest to the cell phone 6 can be detected and used.

After the number of the printers 10N is reduced to one (S1411: YES),control proceeds to S1440. It should be noted that, if no printers 10Nare found as a result of reducing of the Piconet area, the Piconet areamay be expanded again so that one or more printers 10N are locatedwithin the Piconet area. For the sake of simplicity, such procedure isnot included in FIG. 26.

In S1440, communication information having the highest priority isselected from among communication information with respect to thedocument server 100M. It should be noted that, in the NVRAM 1050 of thecell phone 6, BD address, e-mail address and telephone number arepreliminarily stored as the communication information, with the priorityin this order, from high to low.

In S1450, it is judged whether it is possible to communicate with thedocument server 100M in accordance with the selected communicationinformation.

If it is impossible to communicate with the document server (S1450: NO),control proceeds to S460, and the communication information having thenext priority is selected. Then, control proceeds to S1450.

If it is possible to communicate with the document server 100M (S1450:YES), control proceeds to S1470, where the communication unitcorresponding to the selected communication information to transmit theprint instruction including the BD address of the printer 10N which isdetected to be located in the Piconet area of the cell phone 6. Afterthe print instruction is transmitted to the document server 100M, theprocedure shown in FIG. 26 is terminated.

Hereinafter, an operation of the data management system according to thefourth embodiment will be described. For an explanation purpose, it isassumed that the document server 100M and a plurality of printers 10Nare located on the same floor (which will be referred to as a firstfloor hereinafter) of a building, and a plurality of personal computers4 are located on a floor (which will be referred to as a second floorhereinafter) which is different from the first floor.

First Exemplary Operation

In a first example, the printing data is transmitted from a personalcomputer on the second floor to Taro working on the first floor.

In this case, the user of the personal computer 4 on the second floorsets, in the printing option setting window, the document server 100M asthe designated device of the printing data, and inputs the name “Taro”as a recipient of the transmitted printing data. Thereafter, when anoperation for transmitting the data is performed, the printing data onthe personal computer 4 is transmitted to the document server 100Mthrough the LAN 2.

When the document server 100M receives the printing data from thepersonal computer 4, it stores the received printing data and checkswhether a recipient is included in the received data (see S1100-S1120 ofFIG. 23). It should be noted that, if the recipient name was not inputduring the printing option setting procedure on the personal computer,the printing data transmitted to the personal computer 4 to the documentserver 100M is transmitted to the default printer 10N through the LAN 2.Then, the printing data stored in the document server 100M is deleted(S190 of FIG. 23).

Next, the document server 100M selects a communication method to be usedfor transmitting the receipt notification to the cell phone 6 of a useridentical to the recipient (i.e., Taro) included in the printing databased on the priority stored in the communication method database 1034and the communication information (i.e., communication information withrespect to the cell phone 6 Taro has) stored in the recipient database1032.

For explanation purpose, it is assumed that, Taro is working at alocation remote from the document server 100M, and therefore thedocument server 100M and the cell phone 6 Taro has cannot communicate inaccordance with the Bluetooth method. In such a case, the documentserver 100M selects a communication method having the next highpriority, which is e-mail.

Accordingly, the document server 100M transmits the receipt notificationto the cell phone 6 Taro has by e-mail.

When the cell phone 6 of Taro receives the receipt notification bye-mail, it notifies the receipt of the same to Taro by sound and/orvibration. Then, when Taro operates to open the received e-mail, stepS1400 of FIG. 26 is performed, and the message indicating that the datais transmitted to the document server 10 is displayed on the displaydevice of the cell phone 6. Further, the cell phone 6 start searching aprinter 10M in the Piconet area (S1410-S1430 of FIG. 26). It is assumed,for explanation purpose, that there are no printers 10N within thePiconet area of the cell phone 6 at this stage.

When Taro approaches a printer 10N close to the current location ofTaro, the cell phone 6 approaches the printer 10N. Then, the printer 10Mis located inside the Piconet area of the of the cell phone 6. Then, thecell phone 6 detects the printer 10N and obtains the BD address of theprinter 10N. If Taro does not go toward the printer 10N, and the printerhas not been detected for more than the predetermined period T2, thecell phone 40 does not transmit the print command, and the procedureshown in FIG. 26 is terminated.

Further, the cell phone 6 selects communication information to bereferred to when the print instruction is transmitted to the documentserver, based on the preliminarily stored priority (S1440-S1460 of FIG.26).

It is assumed that, Taro is now at the printer 10N which is remote fromthe document server 100M, and the document server 100M and the cellphone 6 Taro has cannot communicate, according to the Bluetoothcommunication, with each other. Thus, the cell phone 6 selects, as thecommunication information, the e-mail address which has the next highpriority, which is used as the communication information to be referredto when the print instruction is transmitted.

Then, the cell phone 6 transmits the print instruction including the BDaddress of the detected printer 10N to the document server by e-mail(see S1470 of FIG. 26).

When the document server 100M receives the print instruction by e-mailfrom the cell phone 6 (see S1160 and S1170 of FIG. 23), based on thee-mail address of the sender of the e-mail message, and the recipientdatabase 1032, it is judged that the print instruction comes from thecell phone 6 owned by Taro.

Then, the document server 100M reads out the IP address of the printer10M based on the BD address of the printer 10M included in the receivedprint instruction and the printer database 1030, and using the IPaddress as the destination, the document server 100M transmits theprinting data for Taro to the IP address through the LAN 2. With thisprocedure, the printer 10N located close to Taro 10 outputs the imagerepresented by the printing data (S1180 of FIG. 23).

If a time period T1 from the transmission of the receipt notification tothe print instruction exceeds the predetermined period T1, controlproceeds to S1130, where the printing data addressed to Taro istransmitted to the default printer 60 through the LAN so that the imagerepresented by the printing data is printed. Then, the document server100M delete the printing data (S1190 of FIG. 23).

Second Exemplary Operation

In a second example, the facsimile data is transmitted from an externalfacsimile device to the document server 100M through the publictelephone service network 8, the facsimile addressed to Hanako who isworking on the first floor. It should be noted that the facsimile datafrom the external facsimile device is transmitted to the telephonenumber of the document server 100M.

When the document server 100M receives the facsimile data from theexternal facsimile device, it temporarily stores the received facsimiledata in the storage unit 1026 (S1100 of FIG. 23). The facsimile data isscanned and the name (“Hanako”) included in the addressing portion ofthe image represented by the facsimile data is judged as the recipientinformation indicating the recipient of the facsimile data(S1110-S1120). If the name is not included in the addressing portion ofthe image represented by the facsimile data, control proceeds to S1130(FIG. 23), where the facsimile data directed to Hanako is transmitted tothe default printer 10N through the LAN 2 to print out the same, anddelete the stored facsimile data (S1190).

Next, the document server 100M selects a communication method to be usedfor transmitting the receipt notification to the cell phone 6 of a useridentical to the recipient (i.e., Hanako) included in the facsimile databased on the priority stored in the communication method database 1034and the communication information (i.e., communication information withrespect to the cell phone 6 Hanako has) stored in the recipient database1032.

For explanation purpose, it is assumed that, Hanako is working at alocation remote from the document server 100M, and therefore thedocument server 100M and the cell phone 6 of Hanako cannot communicatein accordance with the Bluetooth method. It is further assumed that thecell phone 6 of Hanako does not have a function of sending an e-mailmessage. In such a case, the document server 100M selects acommunication method having the priority next to e-mail, which is acommunication by telephone.

Accordingly, the document server 100M transmits the receipt notificationto the cell phone 6 of Hanako through the public telephone servicenetwork 302.

When the cell phone 6 of Hanako receives the receipt notificationthrough the public telephone service network 302, it notifies thereceipt of the same to Hanako by sound and/or vibration. After apredetermined ringing operations, the cell phone 6 answers the call fromthe document server 100M automatically and receives the receiptnotification. Then, step S1400 of FIG. 26 is performed, and the messageindicating that the data is transmitted to the document server 10 isdisplayed on the display device of the cell phone 6. Further, the cellphone 6 starts searching for a printer 10M in the Piconet area(S1410-S1430 of FIG. 26). It is assumed, for explanation purpose, thatthere are no printers 10N within the Piconet area of the cell phone 6 atthis stage.

When Hanako approaches a printer 10N close to the current location ofHanako, the cell phone 6 approaches the printer 10N. Then, the printer10M is located inside the Piconet area of the of the cell phone 6, andthe cell phone 6 detects the printer 10N and obtains the BD address ofthe printer 10N. If Hanako does not go toward the printer 10N, and theprinter 10N has not been detected for more than the predetermined periodT2, the cell phone 6 does not transmit the print instruction, and theprocedure shown in FIG. 26 is terminated.

Further, the cell phone 6 selects communication information to bereferred to when the print instruction is transmitted to the documentserver, based on the preliminarily stored priority (S1440-S1460 of FIG.26).

It is assumed that, Hanako is now at the printer 10N which is closest tothe document server 100M, and the document server 100M and the cellphone 6 of Hanako can communicate, according to the Bluetoothcommunication, with each other. Thus, the cell phone 6 selects, as thecommunication information, the Bluetooth, which has the highest priorityand is used as the communication information to be referred to when theprint instruction is transmitted.

Then, the cell phone 6 transmits the print instruction including the BDaddress of the detected printer 10N to the document server in accordancewith the Bluetooth communication method (see S1470 of FIG. 26).

When the document server 100M receives the print instruction inaccordance with the Bluetooth communication method from the cell phone 6(see S1160 and S170 of FIG. 23), based on the e-mail address of thesender of the e-mail message, and the recipient database 1032, it isjudged that the print instruction comes from the cell phone 6 owned byHanako.

Then, the document server 100M reads out the IP address of the printer10M based on the BD address of the printer 10M included in the receivedprint instruction and the printer database 1030, and using the IPaddress as the destination, the document server 100M transmits thefacsimile data for Hanako to the IP address through the LAN 2. With thisprocedure, the printer 10N located close to Hanako outputs the imagerepresented by the facsimile data (S1180 of FIG. 23).

If the time period T1 from the transmission of the receipt notificationto the print instruction exceeds the predetermined period T1, controlproceeds to S1130, where the facsimile data addressed to Hanako istransmitted to the default printer 60 through the LAN so that the imagerepresented by the facsimile data is printed. Then, the document server100M delete the facsimile data (S1190 of FIG. 23).

According to the data management system described above, the printoutfor a recipient can be output by the printer close to the recipientwithout fail. Further, the recipient is only to go to a closely locatedprinter after receiving the receipt notification and check an messageindicate on a display, and is not required to input password or thelike.

Regarding the received data which does not include the recipientinformation, it is transmitted to the default printer, and thus, all thedata can be printed appropriately. Further, regarding the received datafor which the print instruction is not received from the cell phone, itis also transmitted to the default printer and printed out thereby.Thus, all the data is printed out without fail, and no data will beremained in the document server un-printed.

Searching for the printer 10M by the cell phone 6 is performed only whenit is necessary. Therefore, power consumption of the cell phone 6 isreduced. Further, the cell phone 6 is configured to perform normalnotification (i.e., vibration and/or ringing) and further annotification by displaying messages. With this configuration, existenceof the received data can be notified to the holder of the cell phone 6effectively, without fail.

Further, it is unnecessary to provide an additional function to theprinters 10M, and general use printers employing the Bluetoothcommunication method as a communication method.

It should be noted that the data management system according to thefourth embodiment can be modified in various ways.

According to the fourth embodiment, the document server 100M obtains theIP address of the printer 10N to which the received data is transmitted,based on the BD address included in the print instruction transmittedform the cell phone 6, and the printer database 30 of the documentserver 100M. However, the invention is not limited to such aconfiguration. For example, the cell phone 6 may obtain thecommunication information of the printer 10N stored in the printer 10Nmaking use of a well-known simple network management protocol (SNMP).

Specifically, the printer 10M may store the name of the printer 10Mitself, and intrinsic data such as the IP address and BD address, as themanagement information in the management information base according tothe SNMP. With this configuration, the cell phone 6 obtains theintrinsic data from the printer 10M using the SNMP manager, andtransmits the printing instruction including the intrinsic data to thedocument server 100M. Then, the document server 100M can receive the IPaddress of the printer 10N, to which the received data is transmitted,directly from the cell phone 6, and accordingly it becomes unnecessaryto refer to the printer database 1030. Further, a general use printerprovided with the MIB can be used as it is.

It should be noted that the data in the MIB can be retrieved usingprotocol except for the SNMP. For example, if a URL regarding theintrinsic data in the MIB is defined in the printer 10N, the cell phone6 makes the printer 10N send back the intrinsic data in the MIB, bytransmitting a Get command designating the URL using the HTTP.

Further, according to the data management system, the cell phone 6immediately send the print instruction to the document server 100M, upondetection of the printer 10N. This procedure may be modified in variousways. For example, the cell phone 6 may ask the holder of the cell phone6 whether the print job is to be performed. With such a configuration,the printout may not be output when the recipient does not intend tohave the same. This configuration is effective in particular to a casewhere the confidential image is printed out. Optionally, a reply to theabove-described inquiry may be done with a simple operation (e.g., anoperation of one key).

In the fourth embodiment, when the printer 10N is searched for, the cellphone 6 employs the Bluetooth method as the communication method for thewireless LAN. Of course, any other communication method (e.g.,IEEE802.11) may be employed alternatively or optionally.

The document server 100M may be integrally provided with the printer10N. For example, the document server 100M may be an MFP (Multi-FunctionPeripheral) which has functions of a printer, a facsimile device and thelike.

In the fourth embodiment, as the image forming device, the printer 10Nis used which prints out images represented by the printing data and/orfacsimile data on a recording sheet. The invention is not limited tosuch a system, and for a device which displays the images represented bythe received data, the present invention is applicable.

Further, in the fourth embodiment, after the received data reaches thedocument server, and after the BD address of the printer 10N is receivedfrom the cell phone 6, the document server 100M transmits the receiveddata to the printer 10N. The invention is not limited to such aconfiguration, and can be modified, for example, as follows.

Among the BD addresses of the printers 10N received from the cell phone6, the latest BD address is stored, and the document server 100M maytransmits the received data to the printer having the stored BD addressevery time the document server 100M receives the received data.

The present disclosure relates to the subject matters contained inJapanese Patent Applications No. P2001-344757, filed on Nov. 9, 2001,No. P2001-350286, filed on Nov. 15, 2001, No. P2001-372848, filed onDec. 6, 2001, which are expressly incorporated herein by reference intheir entireties.

1. A data management system, in which a plurality of printers, adocument server and a database server having a database are connected tocommunicate with one another through a network, the data managementsystem managing image data stored in the database, the image data storedin the database being processed by the printers, wherein the databaseserver comprises: a data registration system that receives image dataand recipient information representing a recipient who receives theimage represented by the image data from an external device connected tothe network and registers the image data with the database inrelationship to the recipient information; and a recipient informationnotifying system that notifies the plurality of printers of therecipient information registered with the database in relationship tothe image data when the data registration system registers the receivedimage data with the database in relationship to the received recipientinformation; wherein each of the plurality of printers comprises: arecipient information receiving system that receives the notification ofthe recipient information from the recipient information notifyingsystem in the database server; a judging system that judges as towhether the printer is capable of establishing wireless communicationwith a wireless external device, which is assigned with a user IDcorresponding to the recipient information; a notifier system that, whenjudgment is made that the printer is capable of establishing wirelesscommunication with the wireless external device, notifies the wirelessexternal device of presence of the image data in relationship with theuser ID assigned to the wireless external device registered with thedatabase; a user ID obtaining system that obtains the user ID of thewireless external device, which is judged to be capable of establishingwireless communication with the printer, via the wireless communication;an image data requesting system that transmits the user ID obtained bythe user ID obtaining system and a request for the image data, to thedatabase server when an image forming request is received from thewireless external device that is judged to be capable of establishingwireless communication with the printer, the image forming requestincluding instructions to the printer to form the image and the user IDbeing registered with the database of the database server inrelationship to the recipient information corresponding to the user ID;wherein the database server further comprises: a data transmissionsystem that obtains the image data requested by the image datarequesting system of the printer from the database and transmits theimage data to the printer which transmitted the request for the imagedata in response to the image data request from the image datarequesting system of the printer; and wherein each of the plurality ofprinters further comprises: an image data receiver system that receivesthe image data transmitted from the data transmission system of thedatabase server; and a printing system that prints the image accordingto the image data, which was requested by the image data requestingsystem of the printer and received in the image data receiver system,wherein the document server is configured to select a communicationmethod that transmits a receipt notification to the wireless externaldevice based on a priority stored in a communication method database anda communication information stored in a recipient database.
 2. The datamanagement system according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality ofprinters further comprises a list obtaining system that obtains a listof image data registered with the database of the database server inrelationship to the recipient information corresponding to the user IDsobtained by the user ID obtaining system from the database; and thenotifier system transmits the list obtained by the list obtaining systemto the wireless external device in a format displayable in the wirelessexternal device.
 3. The data management system according to claim 2,wherein the image forming request from the wireless external devicereceived in the image data requesting system is a request to form animage according to the image data selected by the wireless externaldevice amongst the image data included in the list of image data.
 4. Adatabase server having a document server and a database to store imagedata and capable of communicating with a plurality of printers via anetwork, the image data being processed by the printers, comprising: adata registration system that receives, from an external deviceconnected to the network, image data and recipient informationrepresenting a recipient who receives the image represented by the imagedata and registers the received image data with the database inrelationship to the received recipient information; and a recipientinformation notifying system that notifies the plurality of printers ofthe recipient information registered with the database in relationshipto the image data when the data registration system registers thereceived image data with the database in relationship to the receivedrecipient information; and a data transmitting system that searches thedatabase to detect the image data registered in relationship to therecipient information corresponding to a user ID, which is assigned toan external wireless device, when a request for the image data, from oneof the printers receiving the user ID from the external wireless devicethrough the network, is received along with the user ID and transmitsthe detected image data to the one of the printers requesting for theimage data, wherein the document server is configured to select acommunication method that transmits a receipt notification to thewireless external device based on a priority stored in a communicationmethod database and a communication information stored in a recipientdatabase.
 5. The database server according to claim 4, wherein thedatabase includes a list of the image data registered with the databasein relationship to the recipient information corresponding to the userIDs transmitted along with the request for the image data; and whereinthe data transmitting system receives a request for sending the list ofthe image data from the one of the plurality of printers, which receivedthe user ID from the external wireless device through the network, andtransmits the list of image data registered with the database inrelationship to the recipient information corresponding to the user IDto the one of the plurality of printers.